Some Kind of Monster is an intense, intimate look inside the studio and the psyches of Metallica as they record their Grammy-winning album St. Anger.  We follow one of the biggest rock bands of all time as they battle their way through communication breakdowns, addictions, a band member’s defection, fatherhood, domestic chaos, and near-total disintegration during the most turbulent period of their twenty-year history.

CRITIQUE

METALLICA.  One of the biggest bands of all time.  A top concert draw for almost two decades, more than ninety million albums sold; success in the music business does not get much bigger than this.   The tribulations of the band have been well documented over the years, from the death of their original bassist, Cliff Burton, their reputations as heavy drinkers (“Alcoholica”): gallons of ink have been spent on this band over the last twenty years.  But this is the first time we have actually seen the inner workings of the band.  The film opens in the spring of 2003, as a group of journalists gather to hear songs from “St. Anger,” the bands first album of new material in several years.  The band is asked about what they have been up to since we last heard from them.

Rewind two years, to April of 2001.  Metallica sets up shop in The Presidio of San Francisco.  Bassist Jason Newsted had recently left the band over some creative differences, and producer Bob Rock was filling in.  The band is at a fragile moment, and the thought of finding a new bass player seems to have not even occurred to them (as Rock would later guess, the band will probably never have a permanent bass player).  To help them get through this period, Metallica’s management has hired a therapist, Phil Towel.  Dr. Phil is a curious character to watch.  He works typically with sports teams, groups that maybe don’t always get along, but need to co-exist in order for whatever big money machine they are part of to keep moving along.  Metallica pays Towel $40, 000 a month for his services, but he never seems to do much.  He is as ever present as the documentary film crew, but he never seems to offer much.  He throws out a few questions here and there and offers some outside opinion, but the big revelations seem to come from the band itself.  There comes a point where Towel acts like he is part of the band, and in an uncomfortably funny scene, Hetfield and Ulrich let him know that they are just not comfortable with the whole thing.

The band has its problems, and it is interesting to see them in such a human light, but the most interesting aspects of the film come in the recording sessions, in seeing ideas go from the first few experimental riffs to completed songs.  In this way, Some Kind of Monster is reminiscent of Jean Luc Godard’s Rolling Stones documentary, Sympathy for the Devil, which chronicled the evolution of that song.  Structurally, the film is also similar to that other great Stones doc, Gimme Shelter, a film that greatly influenced Berlinger and Sinofsky.  There is something endlessly fascinating about seeing the incubation of songs that have since become so well known.

The clashes between the members of the band are really at the heart of the film, and here we see how close Metallica was to dissolving completely.  Hetfield entered rehab and was gone for an extended period of time, a period in which Ulrich and Hammett figured that it was anyone’s guess as to whether or not Metallica would continue.  Hetfield returned eventually, but there were still other issues to work out, and even with the three core members of the band back together, no one was sure if there was enough connection to put the team back together again.  There was every reason in the world why they should, and yet…

As good a documentary as this is, and as probing as it is, Some Kind of Monster is not perfect.  There are some Spinal Tap moments in the film, moments that would be ripe for parody if it hadn’t already been done.  (Let’s not forget that Metallica’s “black album” was something that Spinal Tap had done years earlier… as a joke.)  Some of the moments with Towel are unintentionally funny, as are some of the scenes with Ulrich’s father (when Lars asks his father what he thinks of a track they are considering opening the album with, his father replies, “my suggestion would be to delete it.”)  There is also the issue of final cut, and who had the last say over what went into the film.  In this case, final cut rested with the band and not with the filmmakers, which raises some suspicions.  These are minor complaints, though, and there is enough power in this film to raise it above its few failings.

Metallica – Some Kind of Monster is well made enough that anyone can enjoy it.  The devout Metallica fan, the guy who has been headbanging since “Kill ‘Em All” was released, will find it eye-opening that their favorite band comes across so human.  The casual fan will find a new appreciation for the band’s music, and there enough history here that someone who has never heard of Metallica and knows nothing about them will be caught up on where the and has been.  Some Kind of Monster covers a tumultuous time for the group.  After twenty years together, they come apart and rebuild themselves.  Early on, Bob Rock says that his vision of the album was a bunch of guys getting together in a garage for the first time.  With this film, we see the band starting over, as though everything that came before was mere prologue.

THE VIDEO

Metallica – Some Kind of Monster is presented in the original 4:3 fullscreen ratio.  The crisp DV photography is very well rendered.  This is not the DVD to benchmark your new HD television set, but the picture is solid, and the overall presentation is well done.

This DVD offers two tracks, both in English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and Dolby 2.0 Stereo.  The presentation is sharp.  The music is the real star here, and all channels come through loud and clear.  The dispersal is good, clean.

With a second disc devoted to features, there is almost 10 hours of extra material that adds another layer of detail to what is already here.

Audio Commentary with Metallica: Despite the potential, this track offers little of interest.  The band says very little, except to make a few inane comments.  Insights, such as they are, come few and far between.

Audio Commentary with Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky: A much more interesting track.  The filmmakers talk about how they came to the project – a film that would go on to consume four years of their lives.  They talk about where they filmed, what was going on behind each scene, and how their own collaborative process works.  Of interest if for no other reason than its insight into the logistics of documentary filmmaking.

Additional Scenes: The filmmakers followed Metallica for two years, collecting more than 1600 hours of footage along the way.  The first cut of the film was six hours long.  Needless to say, much was left out.  Here are 28 deleted scenes of varying length, some with filmmaker commentary.  Some are more interesting than others, and some are real Spinal Tap moments.

Festivals and Premieres: Q&A sessions with the band and filmmakers at openings across the country: Sundance, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the New York premiere, and a Metallica fan club screening.  The footage becomes a bit repetitive, but it is all interesting to watch.

This Monster Lives: This part might be better titled, Additional Scenes, Part Deux.  Here are 13 more deleted scenes, extended and alternate cuts, many of which focus on therapy sessions.  Of particular interest is a scene where the band learns of the death of Dee Dee Ramone while discussing which song to contribute to a Ramones tribute album.

Music Video: “Some Kind of Monster,” set to a montage of clips from the film.

Filmmaker Bios: Filmographies of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.

Theatrical Trailer: The original theatrical trailer.

Concert Trailer: Similar to the theatrical trailer, with a heavier emphasis on the film’s concert footage.